Answers for India

This week India asked me to answer some questions for an assignment she's writing on the relationship between actors and director...I thought I'd share my answers as this weeks blog...

1.  As an actress who decided to run their own theatre company and become a director, what sort of relationship do you wish to achieve with the young actors you work with?

It’s a complicated balance of many things.  I want actors to feel safe in my workshop or rehearsal room so that they can be brave and are able to try new things but too much safety and there is a danger that actors become blasé and feel like they don’t need to try.  I want them to feel able to play but know when playfulness needs to shift into disciplined work.  The relationship between actor and director has to be a positive one built on mutual respect.  They can do things to make the production successful that I can’t, they are an invaluable and precious resource.  Equally I have a position in the process that can help them immeasurably, it’s most definitely a two way thing.

As an actor I worked with a range of directors some inspirational some awful.  I was always a better actor when I believed my director thought I was capable of great things and wanted me to achieve them and when I knew they looked at both me and the process holistically.  Perhaps more important in terms of a successful and rewarding process was that this attitude was consistent throughout the company…this is probably how my idea of the importance of creating a company of actors with excellent values and where the culture is right developed.  A lot of what a director does in rehearsals unlocking an actor to be able to realise a moment or a feeling or a relationship – this can only be done if a director knows who they are working with and has created an atmosphere where an actor feels safe to do so.

Creating a piece of theatre should be a creative, enjoyable process.  If it’s angst ridden and built on fear everyone has missed the point.  I demand a lot from my actors in terms of commitment and investment but this is rewarded in the return they get from me, the way they see themselves develop and the end result of the piece of theatre that is created.

2.  Hodge says that directors have sought to incorporate the actor in a new or revitalised role as a theatre maker, do you agree?

In a theatre company of any level you have lots of creative minds, lots of ideas, opinions, instincts, understandings and experiences.  Each person within it has something valuable to offer.  It’s a ridiculous idea not to use this richness, not to truly collaborate.  My ambition in my directing work is to harness all of this wealth and weave it to a cohesive whole. 

During my rehearsals there are plenty of opportunities for actors to discuss and explore with me what will go into the production and depending on the type of theatre I will ask actors to work self directed to produce material, truly harnessing this wealth of actor creativity.  Then it’s just a case of them trusting me as I edit and develop and align all of those things until we find something that fits together and makes something that will engage an audience.  Obviously it’s dangerous to concentrate on the actor/director relationship without regard for the relationship between actors and audience.

3.  Do you believe this new heightened relationship has brought a new aesthetic to theatre and if so what do believe it is and where do you see it going from now?

I’m not sure that this approach to theatre making or attitude to relationships within theatre making creates a distinct aesthetic. I think it unlocks potential in a range of aesthetics.  I don’t see it being distinct to particular forms but instead offers theatre makers the opportunity to enrich work and to push whatever aesthetic is the focus of the company further to get the most out of it.

4.  Do you feel you either consciously or unconsciously prepare the young actors you work with for the 'real world' of theatre where they may be required to become a theatre maker themselves?

I hope so.  However there’s a multipurpose element to the work I do with young people that’s worth considering here.  In terms of the youth theatre not all of them want to pursue a career in the theatre or even in performance.  In terms of my work with them I would hope that as well as giving them an opportunity to be creative I am providing them with an environment to develop portable and transferable skills and understanding that will in some way shape the adult and therefore the professional they become. 

There are however, particularly in the oldest youth theatre company, a proportion of young people who do want to pursue an acting career.  My hope and ambition for them is that I help them explore the wealth of possibilities that are open to them.  I hope to give them an idea of what is important to develop as a theatre maker, to instill a set of values that allow them to fulfill their potential.  I encourage them to be as open as possible, to experiment, to step out of their comfort zones and to enjoy the results of doing this. I also push the importance of reflection, which I see as being integral to actor’s development.

Finally I work professionally with young actors who are in or who have just finished training.  In this work I can be more demanding however all the time keeping the values and culture described earlier at the heart of the work.

That’s what’s happening consciously…what I’m doing unconsciously the actors I work with will be able to tell you more about!

5.  Through your personal training how have you practice been influenced in regards to how you direct and teach your actors?

I was trained at Bretton Hall when it was still an independent actor training institution.  Their ethic was one of experimentation, exploration and play married with the traditional demands of technical voice and movement development.  The influence on me is still tangible and very much shaped the practitioner I have become.  To have the opportunity to work with such talented lecturers and students always questioning, always challenging, was a unique and inspirational experience.  We were handed practitioners to consider and practices to play with but ultimately it was very much emphasised that we would be responsible for the artist we became, it was a training that provided me with the perfect foundations to carve out a practice and a career.